History

The area of the Ohio headwaters was inhabited by the Shawnee and several other settled groups of native Americans. The first European was the French explorer/trader Robert de La Salle in his 1669 expedition down the Ohio River from Quebec. European pioneers, primarily Dutch, followed in the early 18th century. Michael Bezallion was the first to describe the forks of the Ohio in a 1717 manuscript, and later that year European traders established area posts and settlements. In 1749, French soldiers from Quebec launched a serious expedition to the forks to unite Canada with French Louisiana via the rivers.[1]Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia sent Major George Washington to warn the French to withdraw. During 1753–54, the British hastily built Fort Prince George before a larger French force drove them off. The French built Fort Duquesne based on LaSalle's 1669 claims. The French and Indian War began with the future Pittsburgh as its center. British General Edward Braddock was dispatched with Washington as his aide to take Fort Duquesne. The British and colonial force met defeat at Braddock's Field and it was not until General John Forbes's 1758 march that the French surrendered the forks. Forbes began construction on Fort Pitt, named after British Secretary of State and soon-to-be Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder while the settlement was named "Pittsborough".

The 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix allowed the Penns to purchase the modern region from the Iroquois. A 1769 survey of the land situated between the two rivers referenced the future city as the "Manor of Pittsburgh". Both the Colony of Virginia and the Province of Pennsylvania claimed the region until 1780 when it was agreed to extend the Mason-Dixon Line westward, placing Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. On March 8, 1771 Bedford County, Pennsylvania was created to govern the frontier. On April 16, 1771, the city's first civilian local government was created with Pitt Township. William Teagarden was the first constable with William Troop the first clerk.

Following the American Revolution, the village of Pittsburgh continued to grow. One of its earliest industries was boat building for settlers of the Ohio Country. In 1784, Thomas Viceroy completed a town plan which was approved by the Penn family attorney. Pittsburgh became a possession of Pennsylvania in 1785. The following year, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was started, and in 1787, the Pittsburgh Academy was chartered. The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 saw unrest and federal troops. By 1797, glass began to be manufactured in the city as the population grew to around 1400.

The War of 1812 cut off the supply of British goods, stimulating American industry. By 1815, Pittsburgh was producing significant quantities of iron, brass, tin and glass. On March 18, 1816 the 46 year old local government became a city. In the 1830s, many Welsh people from the Merthyr steelworks immigrated to the city following the aftermath of the Merthyr Rising. By the 1840s, Pittsburgh was one of the largest cities west of the Allegheny Mountains before the Great Fire of Pittsburgh destroyed over a thousand buildings in 1845. The city rebuilt and by 1857, Pittsburgh's 1,000 factories were consuming 22 million coal bushels yearly.

In 1901, Carnegie merged several companies into U.S. Steel. By 1911 Pittsburgh was the nation's 8th largest city accounting for between a third and a half of national steel output. The city's population swelled to over a half million with European immigration via Ellis Island. By 1940, non-Hispanic whites were 90.6% of the city's population. Pittsburgh was a main destination of the African-American Great Migration with 95% percent becoming unskilled steel workers. World War II saw area mills operate 24 hours a day to produce 95 million tons of steel,[2] but also recorded the highest levels of air pollution in its almost century of industry. The city's reputation as the "arsenal of democracy" was being overshadowed by James Parton's 1868 observation of Pittsburgh being "hell with the lid off".

Following the war, the city launched a clean air and civic revitalization project known as the "Renaissance." This much-acclaimed effort was followed by the "Renaissance II" project in 1977 and focusing on cultural and neighborhood development. The industrial base continued to expand through the 1970s, but beginning in the early 1980s both the area's steel and electronics industries imploded, with massive layoffs from mill and plant closures.[3]

In the latter 20th century the area shifted its economic base to education, tourism, and services, largely based on healthcare/medicine, finance and high technology such as robotics. Although Pittsburgh successfully shifted its economy and remained viable, the city's population never rebounded to its industrial-era highs. While 680,000 people lived in the city proper in 1950, a combination of suburbanization and economic turbulence caused a decrease in city population.

During the late 2000s recession Pittsburgh was economically strong, adding jobs when most cities were losing them, and one of the few cities in the United States to see housing property values rise. Between 2006 and 2011, the Pittsburgh MSA experienced over 10% appreciation in housing prices—the highest appreciation of the largest 25 MSAs in the United States as 22 of the top 25 MSAs saw a depreciation of housing values. Pittsburgh's story of economic regeneration was the inspiration for President Barack Obama to host the 2009 G-20 Pittsburgh summit.